Biotech Stock Fulcrum Nearly Triples On Sickle Cell Treatment
Fulcrum Therapeutics (FULC) unveiled positive results for its sickle cell disease treatment, and the biotech stock more than doubled to a 13-month high.
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A study of its treatment in healthy adults demonstrated “proof of mechanism and proof of biology,” Fulcrum said in a news release. The drug is known as FTX-6058. It increased the amount of a key oxygen-transporting protein in the blood.
“These results, along with the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics (movement of drug within the body) reinforce our belief in FTX-6058’s potential to be a best-in-class treatment for select hemoglobinopathies,” Chief Executive Bryan Stuart said in a written statement.
On the stock market today, the biotech stock soared 125.3% to 18.77.
Biotech Stock Soars On Sickle Cell Drug
Fulcrum’s treatment works by prompting the body to create fetal hemoglobin. Fetal hemoglobin is created in pregnancy and persists in a baby until two to four months of age. It has a stronger bind to oxygen and is, therefore, a frequent target for blood-disease drugs.
Healthy adults who received the drug showed an increased level of hemoglobin messenger RNA, or mRNA. Messenger RNA is the body’s mechanism for carrying the instructions for protein creation. There was also an increase in young red blood cells containing fetal hemoglobin. Both metrics helped push the biotech stock higher.
SVB Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz kept his outperform rating on the biotech stock. The first look at data “bodes well for sickle cell disease patients,” he said in a report to clients.
Fulcrum is planning to begin enrolling sickle cell patients in the fourth quarter for an early-stage test of FTX-6058.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
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